There are cases where a doctor or the like observes pathological images obtained by using a microscope and so on to make a pathological diagnosis, and techniques useful in making a diagnosis by using pathological images have been proposed.
As one of techniques, there is proposed a technique of generating a screening (moving observation) moving image, a zooming moving image and a focusing moving image using microscopic images taken by the microscope in accordance with, for example, an operation input by a user (for example, see JP-A-2006-228185 (Patent Document 1)). In the technique, the moving image can be generated in accordance with histories of operation inputs in the past and the operation input at present.
Additionally, there is also provided a technique of generating images for teaching materials of pathological diagnostics by imaging observed regions of a sample with resolution necessary for observation, associating the images obtained by the imaging with each other and recording them based on an observation log by an advising doctor (for example, see JP-A-2005-266718 (Patent Document 2)).